The cones are globose to ovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter with 16-28 scales, arranged in opposite pairs in four rows, each pair at right angles to the adjacent pair they mature in about 8-9 months after pollination. This rapid rate of growth has led to consideration for using the tree in forestry plantations. The tree is a vigourous grower and reaches heights of 30 to 45 m (100 to 150 ft). The images above show a dawn redwood, showing off its autumn colors ( botanical garden of Ghent University). Because of its remarkable colors and the fact it's very easy to reproduce by cuttings, have made this tree a very popular ornamental tree. In spring the color of its foliage is bright green and turns to a beautiful foxy yellow and reddish brown in autumn. On the right you can see the typical base of a dawn redwood ( botanical garden of Ghent University).Īs opposed to the other sequoia species, this tree is deciduous (it looses its leaves in the autumn). On the left you can see an avenue of young dawn redwoods in a European castle garden ( castle De Eester in Belgium), with in the background the unmistakable top of a giant sequoia. In 1948 it was discovered that the species belonged to the already described fossil genus Metasequoia and, in an effort to preserve the tree species from logging, it was immediatly spread along arboreta everywhere in the world. Kan, a Chinese forester of Beijing National Central University, found three strange deciduous trees he had never seen before and during an expedition that followed, a lot of the trees were apparently still alive in a remote area in Southwest China. To summarize: at that time, the tree was only known as an fossil tree species, extinct for millions of years. Botanists think this species is the ancestor of the present day coast redwood. ĭue to its resemblance to the North American coast redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens), he named the tree species Metasequoia, which means 'almost a sequoia, sequoia-ish'.

In 1941 Shigeru Miki of Japan was reclassifying fossil remains that had been incorrectly classified as Sequoia and Taxodium.

This tree was once one of the most widespread tree species in the Northern hemisphere (during the Tertiary period).įossils have been found across the northern hemisphere, including Greenland and Spitzbergen, dating from when the continents were further south, and close together sharing a common flora. The foliage of this Asiatic conifer is very similar to that of the North American bald cypress ( Taxodium distichum). The Garden is open all year round and there is a modest admission charge.The dawn redwood or just plain 'metasequoia' ( Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is one of the three species of sequoia (together with the giant sequoia, Sequoiadendron giganteum and the coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens). The Dawn Redwood can be found on the south-western edge of the Lake. The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is situated one mile south of the city centre, with the entrance on Bateman Street off Trumpington Road (A1134). 3 This head start allowed Cambridge University to be the first to plant out a Dawn Redwood on British soil. However, the seed from which the specimen at Cambridge was grown came directly from a Dr Silow who worked with the British Council in Beijing. By 1948 the Arnold Arboretum was distributing seed to botanical gardens and collectors around the world. The Chinese botanists informed Professor Merrill of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University about the discovery, and in September 1947 an expedition was sent to Szechuan to bring back seeds. Eventually specimens arrived in Beijing in 1946 where Professor Cheng and Dr Hu realised that here was Miki’s fossil metasequoia, alive and well, three to five million years after it was thought to have become extinct. Amazingly in the same year a living tree was found in the Szechuan province of China. In Japan, during 1941, a paleobotanist called Shigeru Miki was looking at fossil sequoias and he noticed a new fossil genus, which he called “metasequoia” (new sequoia).

Growing in Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Britain’s first Dawn Redwood ( Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is a fascinating tree, not least because of the way in which the species was discovered.

Metasequoia trees